I will be the first to admit that I haven’t been the best fan this year. When it comes to following the St. Louis Cardinals, I could be watching more games. While I don’t watch every inning of every game, I do watch as often as I can. Social media helps me keep up with the team when I’m not watching. And from the tweets that Cardinals fans have been pumping out this season, you’d think they had a losing record.

But as we hit the home stretch of the Major League Baseball season, the Cardinals — again — sit on top of the National League’s Central Division. It’s not like the team has a lot of room to play with, but it is still on top. Milwaukee, which has been on top much of the season, is a game back, while Pittsburgh is just three games behind with just 25 games to play. Whoever doesn’t win the division is going to be in the thick of the wild-card race. Right now, Milwaukee holds the second wild-card spot by a game and a half over Atlanta and two games over Pittsburgh.

The last four weeks of the regular season are going to be wild. Including tonight’s game with the Pirates at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals have nine games against their closest rivals. They will be done with the Pirates for season after Wednesday afternoon’s game. If they can administer a knockout punch to the Pirates, it could prove for some good momentum going into a four-game series at Milwaukee this weekend. St. Louis will play the Brewers at Busch Sept. 16-18, which could be another pivotal series.

So, while football will take some of my sporting attention this month, I’ll certainly make sure to check on a few more Cardinals games and see if they can make some more late-season magic.